CARD BASICSDescribing Tetra Master is actually more complicated than playing it! When the card game begins, you must select five cards to play. You can't play the game unless you have at least five cards. You should choose cards based on the number of arrows they have, and by the statistics shown on the card. Both features of cards are explained later.(refer to image 1.)After selecting five cards, a 4x4 grid appears. Anywhere from 0 to 6 tiles on the game table can be blocked off, preventing you and your opponent from placing a card there.
A coin toss determines whether you or your opponent goes first.
Cards are placed on the grid. Your cards are blue and your opponent's are red. Put down a card next to or diagonal to your opponent's in an attempt to capture their card.
Each card has up to eight arrows pointing outward, positioned on the sides or the corners of each card. These arrows determine what happens when a card is placed next to an opponent's card. If the arrow on your card points to your opponent's card, you can convert the enemy's card to blue. If there are no arrows on the two sides or corners of the two opposing cards that are touching, nothing happens. If the enemy card has an arrow, but the card you just played does not, then nothing happens. However, if a card is placed so that an arrow is pointing at a side or corner of an
enemy card that does not have an arrow, you capture the enemy card.
If an arrow on your card faces an arrow on your opponent's card, a card battle begins. If your card wins the card battle, you capture the opponent's card and it changes to blue. If your card loses, the opponent captures your card and it changes to red. If you have to battle two or more cards, you must choose which of the opponent's cards to battle first.
The game ends once all the cards are played, and the player with the most cards on the grid, captured or placed, is the winner.(refer to image 2.)The winner then gets to pick one of the loser's captured cards. If a Perfect is scored, where the player or the opponent captures all of the cards on the grid, then the winner gets to take all of the loser's cards! If both players have the same number of cards on the grid, then a Draw is called and a rematch is usually suggested.

COMBO ATTACKS(refer to image 3.)When a card is captured in a battle, that card will then capture any cards at which its arrows point to. This is called a "Combo," the art of capturing multiple cards at once. Mastering combos is key to winning the card game. A card with many arrows, while being very versatile, is also more vulnerable to counter combo-attacks.CARD INVENTORY(refer to image 4.)You can view your catalog of cards at any time by selecting the Card option from the Main Menu. You can never carry more than 100 cards. You should always discard weaker cards in the hopes of finding stronger or "rare" cards. A weaker card is one that has few arrows and low stats.
If you end up with more than 100 cards after a game of cards, you must throw away cards of your choice until you have 100. If you want to collect all 100 cards, you can only carry one of each card.CARD STATISTICS
Each card has a combination of four letters and numbers on it. These numbers and letters display the strength of the card, and determine which card wins in a card battle.[a] The first number is the card's attack power in hexadecimal, from 0 to E, with E being the highest.[b] The second statistic is the card's attack type. P is Physical, M is Magical, X attacks the lowest defense number, and A attacks the lowest number on the card.[c] The third number is the card's physical defense in hexadecimal.[d] The fourth number is the card's magical defense in hexadecimal.
When two cards battle, the just-placed card attacks using the attack number (the first stat on the card) and the attack type (the second stat on the card). The just-played card's attack number is compared to the corresponding defense number on the enemy card. The card with the highest number usually wins, although there is a small chance that a weaker card can still beat a stronger card.You can raise the statistics on cards by playing with certain cards over and over and winning numerous Tetra Master games with them.
RARE CARDS
There are some very rare cards you can only obtain by searching certain areas of the game. If you pass up these opportunities, then you may not be able to collect all 100 cards.

[1]You can only collect the Namingway Card during Disc 3 in two different places. The easiest place is behind the stack of books in Kuja's room inside the Desert Palace. The only other way to find the card requires some effort. When your party returns to Treno for the Card Tournament, during the ATE "How He Ended Up Here" choose to have Vivi stay in Treno. A new ATE will become available shortly, entitled "Hippo's Prize." Watch this event, and the Namingway card will appear randomly during the second round of the card tournament prior to the attack on Alexandria. This is the one card with a function. If you talk to the Guy Doing Research in the library at Daguerreo, he will become inspired to rename any of the characters in your party. [2] Certain treasure chests found in the world while riding a chocobo contain rare cards. However, if you already have 100 cards in your inventory, these new cards are automatically discarded. Note that when this occurs, you will NOT get a chance to choose which card you want to discard like you do in the card game.[3]The jump rope and Hippaul mini-games reward cards as prizes. However, if you already have 100 cards in your inventory, these new cards are automatically discarded. Note that when this occurs, you will NOT get a chance to choose which card you want to discard like you do in the card game.[4]In the stage of the game called "Memoria," exclamation marks appear over Zidane's head in various corners and niches. If you press the X button to examine these areas, Zidane will shake his head in confusion. These areas indicate where you can battle a Card Master's ghost. Press the Square button to initiate a card battle with a ghost. You can obtain many rare cards in this manner.